Nickelback Coming Back Again; All We Can Do Is Shrug

Rocks Off would like to think we've pretty much inoculated himself to "bad music" to the point where nothing fazes us anymore. We can roll into an Insane Clown Posse show, no problem. Kenny G? We'll shake dude's hand and talk shop with him. But Nickelback is a different story.

When we got the e-mail that the Canadian band would be coming back October 15 for what by our count will be the third time in a year behind 2008's Dark Horse, our first words weren't so much "gross" and "ew," but more of a disappointment that a parent feels when an adult child lets them down. We aren't angry that they are coming to town again, just a little sad. You let out a deep sigh and just hope that no one dies or breaks a limb.

We actually covered one of the band's last Houston gigs, a sold-out job at Toyota Center last April. Facing our fears that night was the least of our problems, it was the blowback from the notion we posited that the band was going to turn into Journey or REO Speedwagon in 20 years and everyone would have forgotten how much they hated them after the band was drowned in irony and cliché to the point where you unabashedly liked them again. Forty-two mixed comments and counting later, the debate continues.

The band hasn't released any new material since Dark Horse, which came out in November 2008. That's a long time in music-industry standards. But the same could also be said of Kings of Leon, who hit Houston for their third appearance since Only by the Night bowed almost two years to the day from the Followill boys' scheduled September 22 show. We'll let you draw the comparisons between the two on your own.

With Three Days Grace and Buckcherry tagging along on this tour, we have no doubt in our minds that it will sell out. It doesn't bother us anymore, because we are done complaining and asking questions. We already did that to the best of our abilities, even going so far as to ask in a blog why everyone hates Nickelback so much. We tried Houston modern-rock fans, and we must have failed you.

Tickets for Nickelback, Three Days Grace and Buckcherry go on sale 10 a.m. Saturday, July 17 at livenation.com.